Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 18, 19, and 22 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-12, 15, 17-19, and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US 20210400298 A1) in view of Lin et al. (US 20210321089 A1).
Re claim 1, Zhao discloses a method of video processing, comprising:
determining, during a conversion between a target block of a video and a bitstream of the video, motion information of a neighbor block of the target block (Zhao: Fig. 45; paragraph [0417]; Fig. 26 and paragraphs [0435]-[0439]);
deriving a set of motion candidates for the target block based on the motion information and a set of affine parameters for the target block (Zhao: Fig. 45; paragraphs [0418]-[0423]; paragraph [0398]; Fig. 26 and paragraphs [0435]-[0439]); and
performing the conversion based on the set of motion candidates (Zhao: paragraphs [0424]-[0426]; paragraphs [0084] and [0086]).
Zhao does not specifically disclose wherein the set of affine parameters are stored in a history-parameter table comprising entries categorized by reference list and reference index, and wherein deriving the set of motion candidates comprises combining a base motion vector from the neighbor block with the set of affine parameters stored in a corresponding entry of the history- parameter table to derive control point motion vectors for the target block. However, Lin discloses a variation wherein a history-index-based table is established and each entry in the table stores a set of affine parameters (Lin: paragraph [0182]). The affine parameters of decoded affine-coded CU are used to write history-index-based table and these affine parameters are used to derive history-index-based affine candidate (Lin: paragraph [0182]). These history-index-based affine candidate can be added to affine candidate list (Lin: paragraph [0182]). Base position and base MV can be utilized to derive MV of each block for merge history-index-based affine candidate, or to derive the CPMVs for an AMVP history-index-based affine candidate (Lin: paragraph [0182]). Lin also discloses that the base position may be on neighbouring blocks (Lin: paragraphs [0201]-[0209]). Additionally, candidate lists may be formatted with an index and reference lists (Lin: Figs. 8 and 9A-9C).
Since Zhao and Lin relate to video coding which processes motion vectors, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date would have found it obvious to combine the teachings of Lin with the system of Zhao in order to increase the coding efficiency of motion vector (MV) coding in HEVC coding (Lin: paragraph [0019]).
Re claim 2, Zhao discloses that the neighbor block comprises at least one of: an adjacent neighbor block, a non-adjacent neighbor block, a spatial neighbor block, or a temporal neighbor block (Zhao: Fig. 45; paragraph [0417]).
Re claim 3, Zhao discloses that deriving the set of motion candidates for the target block based on the motion information and the set of affine parameters comprises:
determining a set of control point motion vectors (CPMVs) based on the motion information and the set of affine parameters (Zhao: paragraphs [0008] and [0013]); or
determining a set of motion vectors of sub-blocks used in motion compensation (Zhao: paragraphs [0008] and [0013]).
Re claim 4, Zhao discloses that the set of affine parameters are stored in a buffer associated with the target block (Zhao: paragraphs [0479] and [0484]).
Re claim 5, Zhao discloses that a motion vector (MV) in the neighbor block is represented as (mvh0, mvv0), a coordinate of a position for which the motion vectors (mvh (x,y), mvv(x,y)) is derived is represented as (x,y), a coordinate of a top-left corner of the target block is represented as (x0′, y0′), a width of the target block is represented as w, and a height of the target block is represented as h (Zhao: paragraph [0011]; paragraph [0269]).
Re claim 6, Zhao discloses that a plurality of types of affine history-based motion vector prediction (HMVP) tables is determined and at least one candidate in a candidate list is derived based on the plurality of types of affine HMVP tables (Zhao: paragraph [0009]).
Re claim 7, Zhao discloses that the candidate list comprises at least one of: an affine candidate list, or a sub-block candidate list, and/or wherein the affine candidate list comprises at least one of: an affine merge list, or an affine advanced motion vector prediction (AMVP) list (Zhao: paragraph [0014]).
Re claim 8, Zhao discloses that a history-based motion vector prediction (HMVP) table for the target block is determined and the HMVP table is stored after coding/decoding a region (Zhao: paragraphs [0509]-[0512]).
Re claim 9, Zhao discloses that the HMVP table comprises an affine HMVP table (Zhao: paragraph [0511]), or wherein the HMVP table comprises at least one of: a first kind of affine HMVP table, or a second kind of affine HMVP table.
Re claim 10, Zhao discloses that the HMVP table maintained for the target block is used together with a stored HMVP table (Zhao: paragraph [0009]).
Re claim 11, Zhao discloses that a stored non-affine HMVP table is used as a non-affine HMVP table to generate a non-affine candidate, or wherein a stored affine HMVP table is used as an affine HMVP table to generate an affine candidate (Zhao: paragraph [0009]).
Re claim 12, Zhao discloses that a set of pairs of affine candidates for the target block is generated (Zhao: paragraph [0278]).
Re claim 15, Zhao discloses that a candidate for the target block is generated, and the candidate is compared with at least one candidate in a candidate list before the candidate is added into the candidate list (Zhao: paragraph [0537]), and/or wherein a motion candidate list comprising at least one non-adjacent affine constructed candidate and at least one history-based affine candidate is determined.
Re claim 17, Zhao discloses that the conversion includes encoding the target block into the bitstream, or wherein the conversion includes decoding the target block from the bitstream (Zhao: Fig. 10; paragraph [0160]).
Claim 18 recites the corresponding apparatus for implementing the method of claim 1. Therefore, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable to claim 18. Zhao additionally discloses a processor connected to a memory for carrying out the operations (Zhao: paragraph [0013]). Accordingly, claim 18 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 1 above.
Claim 19 recites the corresponding non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a processor to implement the method of claim 1. Therefore, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable to claim 19. Zhao additionally discloses the processing method to which the disclosure is applied may be produced in the form of a program executed by a computer, and may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium (Zhao: paragraph [0578]). Accordingly, claim 19 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 1 above.
Re claim 21, Zhao discloses that the set of affine parameters are not stored in a buffer associated with the target block (Zhao: paragraph [0441], “When the CU is coded using the affine motion, the encoder/decoder may store a copy of the motion information for the CU previously decoded in the buffer” (emphasis added), wherein “may” indicates that storage in the buffer is possible but not required).
Claim 22 recites the corresponding method for storing a bitstream generated by the method of claim 1. Therefore, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable to claim 22. Zhao also discloses that a bitstream may be transmitted over a network or may be stored in a digital storage medium (Zhao: paragraph [0089]). Accordingly, claim 22 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 1 above.
Claim(s) 13, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US 20210400298 A1) in view of Lin et al. (US 20210321089 A1), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20240314318 A1).
Re claim 13, Zhao does not specifically disclose that a merge list that comprises a set of candidates is constructed and the set of candidates is reordered after the construction of the merge list. However, Chen discloses that an affine merge candidate list may be reordered (Chen: paragraphs [0323]-[0332]). Since Zhao and Chen relate to video processing using affine motion, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date would have found it obvious to combine the methods of Chen with the system of Zhao in order to improve motion vector candidate derivation (Chen: paragraph [0005]).
Re claim 14, Zhao does not specifically disclose wherein whether to and/or a procedure to reorder a candidate list is determined based on coding information of the target block, wherein the candidate list comprises at least one of: an affine candidate list, a sub-block candidate list, or a non-affine candidate list, and wherein the coding information comprises at least one of: a derived candidate list, a parsed candidate index, or whether a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (sbTMVP) is enabled. However, Chen discloses that an affine merge candidate list may be reordered (Chen: paragraphs [0323]-[0332]). In one or more embodiments, when a candidate list is constructed, different types of candidates may be derived and inserted into the list (Chen: paragraph [0342]). If one candidate or one type of candidates is not participated in the reorder process, but selected and signaled to the decoder, the reordering process, which is applied to other candidates, may be early terminated (Chen: paragraph [0342]). In one example, in the case of applying ARMC for the affine merge candidate list, the SbTMVP candidate may be excluded from the reordering process (Chen: paragraph [0342]). In this case, if the signaled merge index value for an affine coded block indicates a SbTMVP candidate at the decoder side, the ARMC process may be skipped or early terminated for this affine block (Chen: paragraph [0342]). Since Zhao and Chen relate to video processing using affine motion, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date would have found it obvious to combine the methods of Chen with the system of Zhao in order to improve motion vector candidate derivation (Chen: paragraph [0005]).
Re claim 16, Zhao does not specifically disclose that a non-adjacent affine candidate is derived based on a set of parameters and at least one non-adjacent unit block, and wherein the non-adjacent affine candidate is a non-adjacent affine inheritance candidate or a non-adjacent affine constructed candidate. However, Chen discloses the candidate derivation process for affine merge mode is extended by using not only adjacent neighboring blocks but also non-adjacent neighboring blocks (Chen: paragraph [0160]). Detailed methods may be summarized in following aspects including affine merge candidate pruning, non-adjacent neighbor based derivation process for affine inherited merge candidates, non-adjacent neighbor based derivation process for affine constructed merge candidates, inheritance based derivation method for affine constructed merge candidates, HMVP based derivation method for affine constructed merge candidates, and candidate derivation method for affine AMVP mode and regular merge mode (Chen: paragraph [0160]). Since Zhao and Chen relate to video processing using affine motion, one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date would have found it obvious to combine the methods of Chen with the system of Zhao in order to improve motion vector candidate derivation (Chen: paragraph [0005]).
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER G FINDLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-1199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/CHRISTOPHER G FINDLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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